Modern warships use guided missiles as their principal offensive and defensive weapons. Considering that a naval engagement may require the firing of many missiles, a warship must have many missiles available for immediate launch. This need has been met by various multiple-missile launchers, in which individual launch locations are loaded with missiles which may be individually launched. The shipboard environment is always subject to space limitations. As the need for more missile firepower has increased, the packing density of the individual multiple-missile launchers has increased, with more missile launch locations within a given region of the ship. The MK29 is a multiple-missile rail-type launcher which holds about eight Sea Sparrow missiles.
In addition to the need to launch multiple missiles within a short space of time, a need has also developed to launch, from a single missile launcher, missiles of different mission types, as for example antiaircraft missiles and cruise missiles. For example, the below-deck Mk41 launcher accepts canisterized missiles, in which each canister contains a single-mission missile. The canisters are loaded into corresponding canister holding chambers or cells in the Mk41. Each canisterized missile has a standardized connector, which is connected within each cell, by a standardized umbilical cable, to a launch sequencer. The launch sequencer is an electronic assembly which identifies the missile within the canisters to which it is connected, by interrogating the coding of a canister coding plug associated with the canister. The launch sequencer also responds to arming and firing signals from a higher level of control, by producing a sequence of at least firing and safe signals for the identified missile, which firing and safe signals are coupled over the umbilical cable to the container and to the missile within, for controlling its launching.
The multiple-missile launchers must have canister holding cell chambers which are large enough to accommodate the largest missiles among the various missiles which are to be launched. When smaller missiles are to be fired, the smaller missile may not fully occupy the canister in a physical sense, although the canister always fully occupies a canister holding cell. This, in turn, gives rise to the possibility of launching a plurality of small missiles, without reloading, from a single canister holding cell, by loading each canister with plural missiles.
Improved arrangements are desired for holding and launching missiles.